The Spire
by silentskulls
Summary: ...Set in Fable II Albion... Garth gets a taste of his first few days in the Spire and is not pleased. ONESHOT


A quiet, low rumbling was present. He didn't know what it was, but he certainly didn't like it. Having worked with Lord Lucien for several years, it was unsurprising that the man quickly registered his unsure emotion and fixation before reassuring him that it was nothing, but it definitely didn't _feel_ like nothing, and Lucien had lied to him before. Even in that odd, Spire transporter, the shaking could be felt very subtly as they floated above the ground. It was unpleasant, unfeeling, relentless and almost _magnetic_ in a way that he could not explain and almost didn't _want _to, yet he felt compelled to with undying enthusiasm.

On the last day of any sort of friendly pact between himself and Lord Lucien, the two of them sat in a room at the local inn, chatting together as though no quarrel had broken loose and nothing odd or unfriendly was about to happen. Sure, there was a brotherly connection between them, but it was to be expected when two normal individuals have worked so long together and confided so deeply to one another. _Never again_, a little voice had whispered in the back of his head, and now he began to embrace what that voice was saying and dreaded the consequences that would follow.

"You will have no weapons," Lord Lucien had explained after he had landed in the Spire. "Not that you carry any around to begin with, of course. None of your current garb, either; there is a uniform that I shall fetch for you shortly. And you shall have no Will. It will all be drained for the safety of the Spire and your own. Fear not, dear Garth, for what is to come will all be perfected from these little details. You need not worry about any of it. I have it _all _under control."

At the very mention of anyone sapping away his _Will_, Garth couldn't help but laugh inwardly. Surely one couldn't just remove the Will from somebody. Will was something _inside _you, something you channeled. Perhaps with discipline and training one could perfect the art of living without it, but he was definitely a believer of Will, and he didn't want to imagine living without it. He didn't believe that anybody could take it away and voiced such ideas aloud to Lord Lucien, who laughed and shrugged and told him to change into his uniform.

He soon found that Will could, very painfully and slowly, be eradicated.

It was an interesting process, to be sure; had he not been the one who was having it removed, he would probably have asked to stand back and watch as one removed the Will from some other body. But he had no choice. He saw what was going on from the patient's point-of-view; from beginning to end, no less, since no one bothered knocking him out (If that was even part of the procedure). A hand constantly kept his head down as he squirmed and convulsed against the table with shock and sting as they strapped an odd collar around his neck and demonstrated what it would do and how it felt when his Will was depleted. They explained the rules of the Spire, which he couldn't quite follow, for the toil that had just vibrated through him had wasted him immensely, but the rules didn't really matter since they were basically "don't disobey" and he didn't plan on it if the punishment was constantly getting shocked from the hellish collar around his neck.

All respect that was left over for Lord Lucien quickly vanished and he wished nothing more then to destroy his hopes and crush the work of the Spire. This was inane and daunting to be sure, but now he knew what he wanted and had figured out scenarios of how to get it.

The base of it all was, of course, Lord Lucien. Lord Lucien oversaw everything that went on in the Spire, from the production to the power supplies to the workers to the color of the walls (Or so Garth assumed). If he wanted to do anything with this Spire, he would have to get to Lord Lucien.

The only way to get to Lord Lucien was to get on the Commandant's good side, which did not bode well for Garth, who disagreed with his ways of "obeying" and would like nothing more then to blast him into another dimension with a heavy dose of Inferno. But he'd do what he must if it meant getting to Lord Lucien and making any sort of compromise.

The morning started well for Garth, considering he was in the Spire where nothing was well. He didn't know whether to expect good or bad from the rest of the day, but he certainly hoped for the former, since he was immediately called into the Commandant's office when he woke up.

The morning started with a nice amount of "I will hit you and you will thank me" and "You will beg me for mercy or you will suffer" and other abusive, almost _sexual _commands that did not please him in the slightest and left him feeling demoralized and shaken. At the end of the test (Or whatever it was; Garth had no idea), he instructed him that his perfect obedience might win him a trip to Lord Lucien's, since he knew him personally. It involved a bit more hitting and begging and crying and bleeding before the Commandant allowed him access to Lord Lucien's quarters, and by the time he had gained the admission he did not feel confident or secure and instead just wanted to go back to his chambers and sulk for a few days.

But not in the Spire. He knew that would not happen here, and he _hated _it.

He also hated that Lord Lucien had an incredible talent of being able to read exactly what was going on in his head just by looking at him, and it all gave him away before he even had a chance to sputter out a full sentence. He requested for him to sit, which he had done both of thankfulness and obedience, because by now he knew better than to disobey. Lord Lucien then went on a bit of a rant about how he was incredibly pleased that Garth was taking this all so well despite the Commandant's rudeness and that he saw a promising future in the Spire for him, perhaps even as second-in-command.

If Garth had waited any longer before making his way into Lord Lucien's chamber, he would've taken the offer on the spot. But he wasn't that broken yet, and he knew better. Second-in-command was nothing when it came to the power of the Spire, and if he was going to get in any position to wipe Lord Lucien out, it was going to be the leader.

When he rejected his offer, however, Lord Lucien stopped everything he was doing and stared at him in disbelief. Sure, he was "disobeying" but he didn't want to settle for second-in-command, but as far as Lord Lucien knew, he just didn't want such a rank. He offered him several other places among the higher-ups of the Spire, but all were declined. And then Garth made an incredibly dumb mistake that _seemed _courageous at the time, but now as he looked back on it, he couldn't help but shake his head in shame.

He told Lord Lucien, eye to eye, that he wanted nothing more then to take the Spire out of his hands and smash it and pretend that it never happened; that he didn't believe in what he was doing and that he just wanted his _Will _back. And then he began to break a little and get a bit familiar with the old friend and began complaining about his lack of Will and discussed his views on why he thought it was inhumane to take one's Will away and then strayed into a subject that involved his hatred of the Commandant and his constant inner clash for what he _really _thought about Lord Lucien himself, whether he considered him a good, close friend or a horrible, lying foe.

He was surprised that Lord Lucien hadn't immediately taken action and shocked him for the rest of his life for speaking out or banished him or some other extreme action. Instead, he just stared at him, eyes wide and curious, as if listening for more. He didn't dare speak again, so instead Lord Lucien simply _stared _and it bothered Garth in a way that he had not imagined possible when someone was simply _staring _at you. He could not read the expression that he was giving him and thus could not tell if everything he had just said had offended or inspired him and he could think of nothing to do but sit there in silence and flush with a sudden charge of embarrassment.

Lord Lucien was quiet. He spoke very slowly and carefully, making absolute certain that he did not spook or upset him with what he said. His hands had clasped his skinny shoulders with an unfamiliar warmth that startled him even more then the unusual behavior he was taking on and Garth quickly lost track of what was going on. In fact, the next thing he knew, he was back in his chambers with a plate of food next to him with nobody around. He could not even begin to think of what had happened between then and now and, in a way, did not want to, and instead curled against the wall and took a deep breath of satisfaction as he hoped that whatever he said had struck something within Lord Lucien that would inspire him to do _something _to Garth's benefit.

But as he sat, he felt the rumbling that was almost synchronized with his heartbeat and saw Lord Lucien standing outside his chamber, assuring him that it was nothing. This _all _was nothing. Everything that just _happened _was nothing. He didn't have to worry. He had it _all_ under control.


End file.
